TAL has launched new estate planning courses through the TAL Risk Academy to encourage advisers to embed estate planning into their core business offering.
The new four-course program includes estate planning fundamentals, with options to study the estate planning processes, technical strategies, and techniques that advisers can use with their customers.
TAL national technical manager Scott Hoger claimed that estate planning is one of the most important things people can do for themselves despite being overwhelming and confusing. Therefore, advisers who embed estate planning into their core business offering would differentiate themselves from others in the market.
“Financial advisers have a deep understanding of their customers' circumstances and financial goals, and they are well placed to support customers with their estate planning needs. We believe that advisers who embed estate planning into their core business offering will differentiate themselves from others in the market,” Hoger said.
“Including estate planning in a customer's advice journey can provide significant value to the customer by helping them to feel more confident about their future and well-equipped to meet their long-term financial goals. Additionally, it can help advisers meet their obligations under Corporations Law and the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) Code of Ethics.
However, Hoger warned that financial advisers must consider how the estate planning process interacts with advice.
“For example, financial advisers have some degree of control over a customer's largest assets: their property, their superannuation and their insurances,” he said. “From an insurance perspective, financial advisers can play a key role in ensuring insurance claims proceeds are paid as intended. Additionally, each customer's assets and liabilities have an estate planning consideration that can be facilitated by the adviser.”
TAL Risk Academy's estate planning courses run until the end of March 2021, with the Estate Planning Masterclass held on March 29 to 30 and all courses available on demand.
